Cargo handling equipment by gripping and suspending materials

ABSTRACT

A cargo handling equipment on self-propelling tractors or forklifts provided with extensible arms, holding arms open and closed by a parallelogram link mechanism attached with universal joints to the body, gripping claws at the end of holding arms which are actuated by piston rods extensible by fluid pressure so as to keep said grip claws always horizontally and allow to open and close to each other and further allow said pair of holding arms to move in parallel and to fix the width of grip according to the shape of material whereby effective transportation of cargo can be achieved.

United States Patent Kawamura 51 Mar. 12, 1974 CARGO HANDLING EQUIPMENTBY GRIPPING AND SUSPENDING MATERIALS Filed: July 14, 1972 Appl. No.:271,850

[76] Inventor:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 23, 1971 Japan 46-75815References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/l962 Pierre 294/88 3,139,3026/1964 Orloff 294/88 Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza AssistantExaminer-George F. Abraham Attorney, Agent, or FirmCullen, Settle,Slor'nan &

Cantor [57] ABSTRACT A cargo handling equipment on self-propellingtractors or forklifts provided with extensible arms, holding arms openand closed by a parallelogram link mechanism attached with universaljoints to the body, gripping claws at the end of holding arms which areactuated by piston rods extensible by fluid pressure so as to keep saidgrip claws always horizontally and allow to open and close to each otherand further allow said pair of holding arms to move in parallel and tofix the width of grip according to the shape of material wherebyeffective transportation of cargo can be achieved.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures FIG. 3 7 6 FIG. 4

CARGO HANDLING EQUIPMENT BY GRIIPING AND SUSPENDING MATERIALS It isdescribed herein that the present invention wherein on the ends of thefoldable and extensible arms affixed to a self-advancing movable chassislike a tractor, forklift and the like being linked with by means ofuniversal joints and the gripping and holding arms being made to beopened and closed by means of a parallelogram mechanism and grippingclaws being affixed to said arm ends by means of left and rightdirection universal joints, the cargo being gripped by the parallelshift thereof, and further by having the holding arms parallelly shiftedin the rear and front direction thereof according to the shape of thecargo, the width of the place of gripping thereof being determined so asto have the materials transported effectively and properly in responseto the shape and size of the materials.

Conventionally a cargo handling has not been employed according to theshape, size and weight of the cargo in the transport operation of ironmaterials in either of the steel manufacturing plant or in the carryingout of timbers or iron ores from forests or mines and the like, and thetransportation of such materials has been performed by a machine whichis capable of individual operation, so that the operation has not beenefficient and the work itself might have been such that accompaniesdanger, and the work has required good experience from the workers inthe job.

In view of the fact which has been described above, the cargo handlingequipment according to the present invention is such that, on foldableand extensible arms provided on the self-advancing movable chassis arelinked by means of holding universal joints opened and closed by aparallelogram mechanism provided with arms, and the cargo beingtransported by being gripped and suspended by the gripping claws of saidarm ends, and therefore the equipment of the present invention hascharacteristics that the equipment is simple and safe in operation andthe work is performed efficiently.

The equipment of the present invention will be more clarified byreferring to the description of the practical example of the inventionillustrated in the accompanying drawings, and thereby the inventionitself will be best understood.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 shows the front view of the whole body provided with theequipment of the present invention with the linkages associated with thecentral piston being omitted for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a side view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the gripping and suspending cargo handlingequipment of materials with the linkages associated with the centralpiston being omitted for clarity, and

FIG. 4 a side view thereof.

In FIG. 1 1 indicates the main body of moving chassis and it is so madeas to be self-advancing through driving belts and a power equipment. Tothe front basic frame the main body 1 of the moving chassis freelyfoldable and extensible arms 3, 4 and 5 being affixed, and on the endsof said arms the gripping and suspending means 6, which is the mainobject of the present invention, is provided. The gripping andsuspending equipment 6 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, holding arms 12, 13,14 and 15 15 not shown in the drawings opened and closed by means of aparallelogram link mechanism being linked with the main body 7 throughuniversal joints 8, 9, l0 and 11 11 not shown in the drawings and saidholding claw ends being respectively linked with gripping claws 16, l7,l8 and 19 19 not shown in the drawings through universal joints 20, 21,22 and 23 23 not shown in the drawings. The front end portion 24 and 25as shown in the drawings are so shaped as to be able to convenientlypick up and hold the cargo of materials and are so made as to beparallelly shifted against the cargo along with with the opening andclosing of said holding arms.

26, 27, 28 and 29 29 not shown in the drawings being cylinders forgripping the cargo and the basic ends 30, 31, 32 and 33 33 not shown inthe drawings forming universal joints and fixed to the main body, andthe other ends 34, 35, 36 and 37 37 not shown in the drawings forminguniversal joints and being affixed at predetermined positions to theholding arms 12, 13, 14 and 15 15 not shown in the drawings being openedand closedin the directions of arrows a, a through a piston rodadvancing and retracting under differential fluid pressure. The grippingclaws on the holding arm ends are maintained always in level position bythe link mechanism of the parallelogram during closing and opening asgripping and releasing the cargo is performed.

38 is a central cylinder mounted in the center of the body 7. One end ofits piston rod 39 is connected with pin 40 to levers 41, 42, 43 and 44,[43, 44 not shown in drawings} and with pins 45, 46, 47, 48 [47, 48 notshown in the drawing] at predetermined points on said holding arms 12,13, 14 and 15 respectively. With the extension and retraction of saidpiston rod 39, the holding arms through said levers are simultaneouslyadjusted to accomodate the width of the material to be gripped.

The holding arms 12, 13, 14 and 15 mounting the gripping claws at theends respectively thereof comprise the four pieces, each holding thereofbeing linked with the main body 7. The gripping claws are fixed by meansof universal joints. The closing and opening in the directions left andright and rear and front of those holding arms are so made as to work bythe fluid pressure cylinders. Each is affixed to the predeterminedposition of each holding am, and besides, since so made asto be able todetermine its position freely and independently being worked by thefluid pressure cylinders attached to the predetermined position of eachgripping arm the spacing thereof can be determined freely andindependently according to the size, weight and shape of the cargo, andalso since the gripping claws are shifted in parallel by theparallelogram link mechanism, it is effective in the point that theinterposedly holding and carrying of the cargo are performed effectivelyand properly and therefore the equipment of the present invention isconvenient in employing the same in the site of cargo handling ofvarious kinds of materials.

What we claim is:

1. In a cargo handling device for gripping and suspending materials,with foldable and extensible arms mounted on a self-advancing movablechassis, a body mounted on the outer end of one of said arms;

four gripping and holding arms afiixed by means of universal joints attheir one ends respectively to said body;

gripping claws affixed by universal joints at the other ends of saidgripping and holding arms;

four fluid pressure cylinders pivotally suspended from said body withthe free end of each piston rod pivotally connected at a predeterminedpoint to a respective gripping and holding arms whereby on applicationof differential fluid pressure to said cylinders, said claws will movesimultaneously inward and outward to grip and release said mateial;

a central cylinder depending from said body inwardly of said four setsof gripping and holding arms including a reciprocal piston rod;

and a plurality of links pivotally connected at their inner endsto saidlatter piston rod and extending said gripping and holding armsconsisting of a pair of parallel bars pivotally connected at one end tosaid body and at the other end to a respective claw, to define each ofsaid grippingand holding arms as a parallelogram, whereby the clawsduring all movements will remain in a horizontal position.

1. In a cargo handling device for gripping and suspending materials,with foldable and extensible arms mounted on a selfadvancing movablechassis, a body mounted on the outer end of one of said arms; fourgripping and holding arms affixed by means of universal joints at theirone ends respectively to said body; gripping claws affixed by universaljoints at the other ends of said gripping and holding arms; four fluidpressure cylinders pivotally suspended from said body with the free endof each piston rod pivotally connected At a predetermined point to arespective gripping and holding arms whereby on application ofdifferential fluid pressure to said cylinders, said claws will movesimultaneously inward and outward to grip and release said mateial; acentral cylinder depending from said body inwardly of said four sets ofgripping and holding arms including a reciprocal piston rod; and aplurality of links pivotally connected at their inner ends to saidlatter piston rod and extending at right angles thereto, and at theirouter ends pivotally connected respectively to each of said sets ofgripping and holding arms intermediate their ends; whereby applicationof differential fluid pressure to said central cylinder will move theclaws laterally simultaneously.
 2. In the cargo handling device of claim1, each of said gripping and holding arms consisting of a pair ofparallel bars pivotally connected at one end to said body and at theother end to a respective claw, to define each of said gripping andholding arms as a parallelogram, whereby the claws during all movementswill remain in a horizontal position.